Unconventional Family
by Zerectica
Summary: A family of spies always has a story to tell. One-Shot.


_**A/N: This story is a return to my more typical type of fic.**_

* * *

A small girl with luscious chocolate curls and piercing blue eyes climbed onto a black couch, taking a seat next to a man with brown hair.

"Hello precious," the man said to the little girl who had curled up next to him. The child said nothing, but kept looking up at the man sitting next to her. "What is it you need?" he asked to break the silence, knowing by the way the child was looking at him that there was something she wanted.

"Today at school the teacher told us to write about our family..."

The little girl didn't have to finish. He knew what she wanted. "You want me to tell you a story don't you?" The little girl simply nodded her head. "Okay. Get comfortable and listen up. This will be a story unlike any you've ever heard before."

"It all started a little over 20 years ago. The higher ups in the CIA and the NSA had received word that a very special one-of-a-kind computer, called the Intersect had been destroyed. Both the CIA and the NSA sent their top agents to investigate. The NSA was the first to track down the man who had destroyed the Intersect, while the CIA was first in locating the person he had contacted immediately after destroying the computer."

"After taking care of the destroyer of the Intersect, the NSA agent, John Casey, went to track down the CIA agent and the man she had located..."

"Sarah Walker and Chuck Bartowski," the little girl supplied breaking into the story.

"Yes, that's right. You're a smart girl."

"Agent Walker noticed something in Chuck almost immediately after meeting him and she chose to protect him when Casey came after him. He had misjudged the CIA agent's skills and she was able to escape with Mr. Bartowski. He didn't like to admit it, but she was a great spy."

"It was soon discovered that all of the information contained in the Intersect had been downloaded into Chuck's brain after he opened an email from his old college roommate, the same man who had destroyed the computer. He had all the governments secrets in his head and certain stimuli would cause him to flash, giving him pertinent information that would help the government identify and deal with threats against the country."

"Sarah Walker and John Casey also learned very early on that Chuck Bartowski was a smart man, even if Casey didn't want to admit it. That first day he defused a bomb on his own by infecting the bomb-laced computer with a virus. The CIA and NSA realized he could be a valuable asset to them and he began working with Agents Walker and Casey to help thwart threats to the country and take down the bad guys."

"The defusing of a bomb was only one of many numerous things that he and the team stopped. Team Bartowski stopped arms dealers, terrorists, prevented a missile from being used to start a world war, prevented assassinations. They stopped a corrupt organization called Fulcrum from achieving a number of their evil goals, including preventing them from creating their own Intersect."

For the past several minutes the little girl sat quietly curled up on the couch listening intently, entirely engrossed in the tale. The story of Chuck Bartowski, Sarah Walker and John Casey completely fascinated her. She couldn't wait to hear more, as she was sure the story would only continue to get better.

"The team started off rocky, but working together caused them to grow closer. They began to regard the other members of the team as partners, as friends. They began to care about each other. Two members of Team Bartowski grew especially close."

"Many of their missions required them to pose as a couple. For one mission, they had to briefly move into a home in the suburbs, going undercover as a newly married couple. They also had to pretend to be in a relationship when not on missions. With Sarah acting as Chuck's girlfriend, it would explain her continued presence around Chuck. A cover relationship of boyfriend/girlfriend both in the civilian world and the spy world forced the two to spend a great deal of time together. They also had to behave as though they were together. In order for their cover to be effective, they had to be convincing. Not that they minded any of this. Right from the start, they were attracted to each other. The line between that which was fake and that which was real in the relationship soon blurred."

"About two years after initially having the Intersect downloaded into his brain, Orion the creator of the Intersect, who also just so happened to be his father, helped Chuck to remove the information from his head. It was something he had wanted from the very beginning. But Chuck's freedom from the Intersect didn't last long. A short time later, he voluntarily uploaded a new version of the Intersect into his head. Intersect 2.0. Intersect 2.0 didn't just upload him with governmental secrets and information, but also skills that would be able to flash on when a need arose. That was also when the team was introduced to the Ring."

"The Ring was a larger and more dangerous group than Fulcrum. Actually, Fulcrum was a part of the Ring. A small part. Upon learning this, the team shifted their focus from trying to bring Fulcrum down to trying to bring the Ring down."

"Now during this time, Chuck became Agent Bartowski and he and Agent Walker continued to grow ever closer. Until one day their relationship stopped being a cover altogether and became real."

"And did Chuck and Sarah get married?" the little girl asked in a tone that indicated that she already knew the answer.

"Don't get ahead of me now," the brown-haired man stated before continuing the story. "They starting dating and spending all their time together when they weren't working. And even when they were working they were always hanging around one another."

"Chuck and Sarah were really in love weren't they?"

"Yes, they were," the man agreed. "It was only a few months after they began dating that Chuck asked Sarah to marry him."

"And she said yes?" the little girl asked, her brilliant blue eyes gleaming with absolute delight.

"Yes, she said yes. But not at first."

The little looked quite perplexed and thought that maybe he had gotten the story wrong. She didn't understand. She thought Sarah would have said yes right away. After all she was in love with Chuck wasn't she?

Tears threatened to fall from the girl's eyes and the man knew he couldn't bear to see her cry, so he quickly intervened. "Let me explain," he said, causing the little girl to look up at him hopefully with water-filled eyes.

"_Wow, they really did a nice job on this place."_

"_Yeah," Chuck agreed. "You'd never know that a Crown Victoria drove through the window and nearly brought an entire wall to the ground and completely trashed the inside. Oh, and just so you know, you won't be needing your gun on this date. I checked out every single person in here and no flashes."_

"_So does that mean I can actually kiss you this time?" Sarah asked with a playful teasing lilt present in her voice. _

"_Well, let's find out," Chuck replied with a smile, as he leaned in toward Sarah._

"_Wait," Sarah said pulling back. "Aren't you going to say anything nice to me, like last time?"_

"_Okay," Chuck agreed as he and Sarah continued to re-live their date from years before. "Well, even after he found out you were a spy, Morgan never doubted that someone like you could fall for someone like me. You've grown more beautiful since the night of our second first date. You've saved my life countless times since then. You've become more amazing than I ever imagined was possible. And I love you more than you'll ever know and more than I could ever express."_

_Chuck leaned back across the table toward Sarah's inviting lips. Just before his lips met hers, Sarah leaned forward to displace all the air that separated them and pressed her lips against his. The kiss was soft and sweet, but the heat generated from their touch almost fused their lips together forever._

_As their food arrived and the date progressed, Chuck and Sarah continued to gaze into each other's eyes, the smiles on their faces staying in place as they ate, all the while completely unaware of the other people around them. The restaurant was theirs and they were all alone in their own intimate little world._

_Both the meal and date were enjoyable. Chuck and Sarah had such a great time on their date and their food, which they took turns sharing with each other was so delectable that the time seemed to whiz by so quickly that before they knew it, their fortune cookies were resting on the table._

"_Aren't you gong to look at your fortune Chuck? It might a good one. Maybe it will tell you your future," Sarah teased._

_Chuck just cracked his trademark goofy grin and suggested that Sarah open hers first. Sarah smiled as she cracked open her cookie and pulled out the fortune. What she read on the slip of paper was a phrase totally unexpected. 'Will you marry me?'_

_When she looked up in surprise at Chuck, she saw that in his hands he held a velvet box with a sparkling diamond ring resting inside and her smile faltered. The response she gave was totally unexpected by Chuck. Her voice was filled with heavy emotion when she answered. "No. I can't. I'm sorry."_

_For a moment, Chuck didn't react. He was so sure that Sarah would say yes. Their relationship was going so well. She had moved in with him. She had told him that she loved him. She had started opening up to him more. Everything was going so perfectly between them, at least until now. _

"_No?" Chuck replied with shock. "What? Why not?"_

"_Chuck, why do we have to get married? We're already living together. I love you and you love me. Why do we have to change things? What's wrong with our relationship just the way it is? What would getting married give us that we don't already have?"_

"_And Chuck, we're spies. It's a crazy life. We're always running off some place to put a stop to various threats. The job requires us to adopt so many covers and live with so many lies. It's not a normal life. We're not normal. What kind of marriage would we really have?"_

_The once comfortable and fun date suddenly turned awkward after Sarah refused Chuck's proposal. Clapping the velvet box closed with a loud clack and returning it to his pocket, Chuck stood and walked away from the table, heading in the direction of the bathrooms. He kept the dejection from showing on his face until he was facing away from Sarah._

_Chuck was gone for an extended period of time and Sarah ended up paying for the meal. When he finally returned, they silently headed home, the awkwardness from earlier still present. That night, Chuck and Sarah slept on opposite ends of the bed, creating as much distance between themselves as they possibly could without falling off the edge and faced away from each other._

"Things eventually returned to normal between them, but Sarah still hadn't accepted Chuck's proposal. The truth was there was more to Sarah turning down Chuck's proposal than what she had told Chuck. In addition to the things she explained to him, Sarah was also afraid."

"Relationships weren't something she understood. She had never experienced a good, healthy relationship in her life before Chuck. She had never witnessed such a relationship before either. She was afraid of what would become of their relationship if they were to get married and whether or not Chuck would still love her in the same way."

"That all changed about two weeks later when Sarah suffered a minor injury. One that required an overnight stay in the hospital."

_Before Sarah opened her eyes she heard the beeping of machinery around her, but that's not all she heard. She also heard muffled voices coming from a little further away. She instantly recognized one of the voices._

"_Can't I go in and see her now?"_

"_I'm sorry sir, but visiting hours don't start until 9:00"_

"_I've been here all night and I still haven't seen my girlfriend. I've been sitting down in that waiting room all night worrying."_

"_Sir, I told you she was fine. Come back in about three hours, then you can see her."_

_Three hours later, at exactly 9:00, Chuck opened the door to Sarah's hospital room and saw her for the first time since she was admitted last night. "Hey Sarah. How are you?"_

"_Hi Chuck," Sarah answered with a smile. "I heard you were here all night. You didn't have to do that. You should've just gone on home. I'm actually gonna be released soon, anyway."_

"_You're my girlfriend. I love you. Of course I'm gonna be here."_

"_But you weren't even allowed to see me," Sarah answered, clearly not understanding why Chuck would spend the night sitting around in a hospital waiting room_

"_It didn't matter that I couldn't see you. I just wanted to be near you," Chuck replied as though the mere thought of not staying in the hospital was crazy._

_In that moment, Sarah realized like never before just how deep Chuck's love for her ran. He had sat around in a hospital waiting room all night, just because she was here. In that moment Sarah realized that she was no longer afraid of the idea of marriage. In fact, she realized that it was something she wanted, if that marriage would be to Chuck. Now she just needed to wait for Chuck to ask again. This time she would have a different answer for him. She would say yes. _

_A month passed and Chuck still hadn't tried proposing to her again. And she was getting tired of waiting, so she decided to take matters into her own hands._

_On one evening during which Chuck and Morgan were having one of their game nights was when Sarah decided to take action. While the two were completely engrossed in their video game, Sarah searched through Chuck's room. Her and Chuck's room? She still wasn't sure what she should call it. It wasn't a difficult task and within minutes Sarah had found where Chuck had put the velvet box which held the engagement ring. _

_After picking the box up and removing the sparkling object from inside, Sarah slipped the ring onto her finger. She then returned the now empty box back to the same place in which she had found it. _

_When Chuck and Sarah retired to the bedroom for the night, they settled on the bed and Sarah said the word yes. Sarah's 'yes,' left Chuck confused. He hadn't asked her anything, so he didn't have a clue what she was talking about. _

_Sarah next laid her hand on Chuck's face, the back of the ring resting against his cheek and again said yes. But the point of contact the ring had with his skin was slight and Chuck didn't feel the ring. So he still didn't understand what Sarah was talking about. _

_Sarah didn't care that Chuck couldn't figure out what she was talking about. The cute way his face twisted in confusion was just so adorably amusing to her._

_Sarah said yes once more as she took hold of his fingers so that the palm of his hand made contact with the diamond. This time Chuck felt the ring and when he took Sarah's hand he looked down at the ring on her finger for a moment, then looked into Sarah's eyes with a brilliant smile. And then with a brilliant smile of her own, Sarah said yes one final time._

_On this night, Chuck and Sarah fell asleep cuddled up in one another's embrace, Sarah's head resting on Chuck's chest. Both had smiles of absolute bliss and contentment on their faces until the morning sun woke them, allowing them to revel in their engagement all over again._

"They had a short engagement and soon Chuck and Sarah were married. Do you know what happened after that?" the man then asked of the little girl.

The little girl shook her head from side-to-side.

"Less than a year later, they added a new member to their family. A little girl. And do you know they named that little girl?"

The little girl shook her head again, only this time instead of shaking it from side-to-side she shook it up and down in the affirmative. She knew the answer to this question. And so she happily shouted, "Brianna!"

"Yes, they named her Brianna. Do you know what the name Brianna means?"

This time the little girl didn't respond to the man's question, but just looked up at the storyteller.

"It means, noble, strong and virtuous. And you are all of those things," the man said looking into the girl's eyes. "You've really lived up to your name."

"After your birth, Chuck and Sarah started going on fewer missions. But two years later a very important mission came across their paths and they knew they had to take it."

"One of the most elusive and most dangerous organizations in the world, The Aries Papers had been tracked down. Stephen Bartowski, aka Orion, had been tracking them for twenty years before Chuck and Team Bartowski ever even became aware of their existence. But finally what Mr. Bartowski had been working for all those years would be achieved. When this group was destroyed, Mary Elizabeth Bartowski, would finally be able to come home to her family. Their demise would also rid the world of a great evil as well."

"Team Bartowski had been fighting The Aries Papers for months and they were finally about to succeed in crumbling their organization forever."

_Chuck, Sarah and Casey gained access to the underground warehouse that served as the main base for The Aries Papers. TAP wasn't one of the most elusive organizations for nothing. The low-key base allowed them to operate unseen for many decades. No one had ever come even remotely close to finding them, not until a highly effective team, with one of the most impressive track records, a personal desire to see them brought down and the Intersect 2.0 came along. _

_Team Bartowski moved stealthily through the building. For a long time, the team saw nothing but an old, dusty storage warehouse. Casey and Sarah were beginning to believe they were in the wrong location, but Chuck kept insisting that he had flashed and that they were indeed in the right location. _

_Guided by his flash, Chuck led his teammates to the back of the warehouse where a bunch of heavy crates were stacked. "Guys, help me move these crates," Chuck said upon reaching the large wooden boxes._

_After a lot of sweat-producing work, all the crates had been moved, to reveal... a blank wall._

"_Great. So we just did all that work for nothing," Casey growled._

"_No, we didn't," Chuck replied as he began feeling along the surface of the wall. Eventually, he found an imperceptible-to-the-eye button that caused the wall to rise up into the ceiling, revealing a secret staircase, which led the team further underground._

_The narrow stairwell was completely dark, so with their weapons drawn, Sarah, Casey and Chuck slowly made their way down the stairs. At the base of the unlit stairwell they encountered a locked door, which Sarah was able to pick after a few minutes._

_The three spies had yet to reach the actual base and they were already running into all kinds of security. They had no idea what they would encounter once they penetrated the actual facility. So very cautiously, they pushed the door open._

_What they saw on the other side of the door was completely different the dark, dusty warehouse they had just traveled through. The glaringly white walls and the incredibly bright lights blinded the members of Team Bartowski after spending so much time in the dark._

_As they stood squinting under the bright lights, Chuck, Sarah and Casey tried to determine where they were and what action they should take next. Still affected by the lights, the team began walking straight ahead. Just before they were about to turn a corner into a corridor, Sarah pushed her teammates back._

_Her eyes had adjusted to the light enough that she was able to notice a security camera monitoring the corner. After studying the camera's movements for a while, they were able to slip by undetected. At the end of the hall they came upon another door, this one requiring a pass code be entered in order for it to open._

_Hacking the system would take some time. So while Sarah worked on breaking the code, Casey and Chuck stood on guard, looking out for enemy agents and prepared to fight should the need arise. Sarah was able to hack the security system without incident and very slowly began turning the door knob, so as not to alert anyone of their presence. _

_They came upon an office and their first contact with members of TAP. Team Bartowski had the advantage over the individuals, in the room and while Chuck flashed on the two people, a man and a woman, a bullet from Casey's gun was able to hit the man in the shoulder, before he was able to take cover behind the desk. _

_After the first shot rang out, a shoot out began. The team took cover behind the door, waiting for the opportunity to fire at their opponents. As they waited, Sarah asked Chuck what he had flashed on. _

"_Not much," Chuck said. "Inocencia Moore. She's not as innocent as her name would suggest. She has quite the history of violence. And Victor Hunter, former military, who went missing in the early '90s. Suspected of selling military secrets to anyone willing to pay." _

_At this, Casey's face contorted in anger as he let out a deep growl. To him, Victor Hunter had committed one of the worst crimes possible and he was now more determined than ever to stop him._

_The gun battle was soon won, but the noise had alerted the base to the presence of intruders. Things were about to get a lot more interesting for Team Bartowski._

_As alarms blared, the team raced down the hall with Sarah and Casey leading the way, their guns blazing. Bullets whizzed all throughout the hallway, as both sides fired shots. They all knew they had to get out of the corridor right now or they'd be dead. If any more members of TAP were to come charging down the hallway, they'd be defenseless to fight them. They would be cornered._

_The two agents were able to take down the first four men to respond to the intrusion alert and the three spies were able to escape from the corridor. Now that they weren't trapped in the narrow hallway, they didn't make such easy targets._

_Seeing another door in front of them, Team Bartowski ran toward it as quickly as they could, barricading themselves against it. Opening it a crack, Casey and Sarah took turns firing into the room trying to eliminate as much of the enemy as possible._

_When they no longer had a shot at any of the remaining people in the room, they burst through the doors. Firing off the last of the bullets they had, Casey and Sarah were able to even their odds by one._

_The rest of the TAP members would have to be taken down using hand-to-hand combat. As Sarah and Casey began to face off against their opponents, Chuck flashed on the kung-fu skills contained in the Intersect and then joined his friend and girlfriend in the fight._

_As the fight progressed, neither Chuck, Sarah nor Casey noticed that one of their enemies had found a weapon. They were too focused on deflecting blows from their respective opponents, as well as delivering blows of their own. The man took aim at Sarah and was prepared to squeeze the trigger, when after sending a roundhouse kick to her opponents face, knocking him to the ground she noticed the gun pointed at her head and was able to duck out of its path before it struck her._

_The bullet having missed its intended target continued to shoot through the air, hitting the mainframe of the security system. The puncture created in the machine set off a panic alert. The involuntary activation of the panic alert triggered a chain reaction of explosions. The bombs couldn't be stopped, as the system controlling their actions had been destroyed. _

_No one on either side was prepared for the sudden state of destruction they now found themselves facing. As the bombs went off, debris began flying throughout the room. Before anyone could react, a sharp-edged piece of metal blown apart from one of the pieces of equipment in the room by the first explosion swept across Casey's right cheek, drawing blood where it cut into his skin._

"Is that where you got this scar?" Brianna asked, touching the crescent shaped mark on the man's cheek.

"Yes, it was," he replied.

"Does it still hurt, Uncle Casey?"

"No, it doesn't hurt anymore, sweetie."

"One explosion had already gone off and more were to follow," Casey said as he continued the story.

_Piece-by-piece this base was coming down. The good news was that this would destroy TAP forever, but unfortunately Team Bartowski was still in the building and as such their lives were at risk. They knew they had to get out of there before the whole place went up._

_More pieces of metal, as well as other materials began flying through the room in all directions. The members of Team Bartowski were being pelted and cut by all the flying debris as they worked on their escape._

_Despite the cuts, scratches and bruises they were being bombarded with, Team Bartowski knew that they couldn't stop. They had to keep moving. They couldn't let the pain stop them. If they stopped moving, they were dead._

_As they continued to run, debris continued to fly wildly throughout the base. As quickly as they were able, they ran up the stairwell leading out of the base and into the warehouse that hid it, but they weren't out of danger yet. It too was coming down._

_The door leading out of the warehouse came into sight and seconds later, Casey was again struck with a sharp piece of debris. Only this object didn't cut his face, it pierced his leg and brought him to the floor. _

_Having witnessed their teammate fall, through the corners of their eyes, Sarah and Chuck rushed to his side. The piece of glass that penetrated his skin like a knife wasn't embedded too deeply into his leg and Sarah was able to remove it fairly easily._

_Sarah then swiftly pulled a knife from the sheath around her ankle and cut Chuck's shirt from his body. Using the fabric of Chuck's shirt, Sarah wrapped the wound on Casey's leg to stop the bleeding. Once she was finished, Sarah and Chuck helped him to his feet._

_Supporting Casey, they continued making their way out of the warehouse. Practically carrying Casey to safety, Chuck and Sarah were slowed significantly, but they weren't about to leave their friend behind._

_Just a couple feet from the door, glass from the windows in the warehouse shot through the backs of both Chuck and Sarah like daggers. Acting as a shield, Casey was protected from the flying shards of glass that had shot out from behind them._

_Their blood and their lives draining, Sarah and Chuck slowly pushed onward, determined to get their friend to safety. They made it out of the warehouse and several feet from the building when their bodies gave out on them and all three fell to the ground. Moments later, the entire warehouse base was destroyed with one final blast._

"_Casey," Chuck and Sarah said together. "Are you okay?"_

_Once Casey confirmed that he was alright, Chuck and Sarah asked him to promise something, to which he agreed._

_Crawling through the dirt, Chuck and Sarah slowly made their way to each other, the shards of glass still deeply embedded in their skin. Gathering all their remaining strength, they reached out to one another. Wrapping their arms around the other, they held each other close. As Chuck and Sarah held one another, while their heartbeats dwindled, they said their goodbyes._

"_Chuck, the happiest moments of my life have been the ones I've spent with you. You've been the most amazing husband and the most wonderful father anyone could ever ask for. I love you."_

"_Sarah," Chuck said weakly, brushing the hair from her eyes. "I just want you to know that I love you so much. I could have never imagined that someone as incredible and as beautiful as you are could possibly exist. The years we had together were amazing, but not nearly enough. Even 1000 years with you wouldn't be enough. You are my soul mate and I'll love you forever."_

_Honoring their wedding vows, neither Chuck nor Sarah did part, 'till death swept them away just seconds apart._

"Did you keep your promise, Uncle Casey?"

"I did," Casey replied with a greater than usual level of emotion present in his voice.

"What was it?" the nine-year-old asked, looking up at him with Sarah's bright blue eyes and Chuck's dark curls.

"I promised them that I would never let you forget how much they loved you."

At the time he made the promise, Casey didn't know just how well he would be able to keep that promise.

_The day after the deaths of Chuck and Sarah, Casey found himself in possession of the spy wills of his teammates and his greatest friends. Sitting in his apartment with the spy wills resting on the table in front of him, Casey sat there looking at the red boxes wondering what he should do with them. With both of them gone, he wasn't sure who they should go to. Perhaps Chuck's should go to his sister, Ellie. But what about Sarah's. She didn't have any family other than Chuck and her daughter, who was only a toddler. She didn't really have any friends. He was probably the closest thing she had to a friend._

_After long, careful deliberation, Casey finally decided to open Sarah's spy will. Maybe something inside would let him know who it should go to, considering that the intended recipient had died as well. _

_Inside, he found a lot of expected content, but also some very unexpected content as well. As he looked through all that was contained in the spy will, he found an envelope addressed to him. It started off by stating that if both she and Chuck were to die, that he was hold onto it until the daughter she shared with Chuck was old enough that it could be given to her. It also referenced a letter that she had written for Brianna should she die, which Casey found in an envelope below the one intended for him. And the most shocking bit of content of all, was a single sentence that Casey had to read at least five times before he could really be sure of what he was reading._

_'Casey, Chuck and I consider you to be more than a friend, you're family and you've been a wonderful uncle to our daughter, because of this, we would like for you to take care of Brianna for us.'_

_The revelation that according to Sarah's spy will, he was to gain custody of Brianna, should both she and Chuck die, was so shocking that Casey opened Chuck's spy will to see if his said anything regarding custody of Brianna, should both he and Sarah die._

_Searching through the contents of Chuck's spy will, Casey again came a across envelopes addressed to both him and Brianna. Opening the one intended for himself, he came across the the same surprising statement. Only the name had been substituted._

_'Casey, Sarah and I consider you to be more than a friend, you're family and you've been a wonderful uncle to our daughter, because of this, we would like for you to take care of Brianna for us.'_

_There was no mistake, Chuck and Sarah wanted him to raise Brianna._

"That's why I live with you?"

"Yes, it is," Casey replied.

"Do you like taking care of me Uncle Casey," Brianna asked with a hint of worry in her voice.

"Of course I do," Casey replied without hesitation. Almost to himself he added, "I never realized just how much I would enjoy it."

"I love you, Uncle Casey," Brianna said as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

And in a move that Chuck and Sarah would never believe, Casey hugged the little girl back and said, "I love you, too."

"Do you want to go see your parents?" Casey asked after a couple minutes of silence.

"Yeah," replied Brianna.

"Okay, go get ready and I'll take you."

On the way to the cemetery where Chuck and Sarah were buried, Casey handed Brianna two envelopes. They were the letters that Chuck and Sarah had written for her years ago.

Breaking the seal on the first envelope, Brianna began to read the letter her father had written for her.

_To my little princess,_

_I just want you to know how much I love you. You're my little princess. The moment the doctor put you in my arms for the first time and I looked into your eyes, I was instantly in love. The last time I felt anything like the love I felt for you was when your mother came into my life. You and your mother were the most important people in the world to me. There was never anything that I wouldn't do for the two of you. I'm so sorry that I'm not there with you to see you grow up. I never wanted to leave you. Before you were even born, I dreamed of all the things you would do and everything you would be. I'm sorry I won't be there to see all of those things, but hopefully I was able to bring your grandmother into your life before I died. Know that whatever has happened, you will always be loved dearly and well cared for. And one last thing, even though I'm gone, I still love you. You'll always be my little princess._

_ Love always, Daddy_

By the time Brianna finished reading her father's letter, her beautiful blue eyes were filled with water like the sea and the paper was sprinkled with her tears.

Treating the letter as though it were as fragile as a butterfly's wing and more valuable than pure gold, Brianna delicately folded the paper just as it was before and then slipped it back into it's envelope with as much care as she used when refolding the letter.

Washing the water from her eyes with her little fists, Brianna worked on opening the letter from her mother. She took her time on the task. She didn't want to tear or damage the envelope in any way.

This letter was one of the few mementos she had of her mother. Even at her young age, Brianna knew the significance of the letter she now held in her hand, as well as the one she had just read moments before, written by her father. She would treasure both of them forever.

Finally Brianna had broken the seal on the envelope without causing any damage and carefully opened the letter and began reading. From the very first word, the tears were already forming in her eyes.

_Dear Brianna,_

_I feel so guilty for leaving you. My whole life I never knew who I was until you and your father showed me my true self. The moment the two of you came into my life my whole purpose became to protect you and your father. Whatever has taken me from you, know that I did it all for you. I did it to protect you. I don't know how old you'll be be when you read this for the first time, but I as write this letter to you, I'm watching you as you sleep in your crib. I can't describe how watching you even as you sleep makes me feel. Whenever I look at you, you take my breath away. Watching you now, I'm imagining the truly amazing person that you will become and how beautiful you will be as you grow up. You are already the most beautiful baby in the world, so I can only imagine just how beautiful you will become through the years. I was considered one of the world's greatest spies. I achieved a lot for the government, but my greatest achievement in life is and always will be you. I love you more than you could ever know. You're my little angel, and along with your father, have possession of my whole heart. Before I met your father I wasn't good at expressing my feelings. He helped me a lot with that, so I hope that with this letter, I was able to express just how much you truly mean to me._

_ Love always, Mommy_

Upon arriving at the cemetery where her parents were buried, Brianna's face was stained with tears brought about through the reading of their letters for her. Walking hand-in-hand with Uncle Casey as he led the way, the two walked through the graveyard toward the double headstone that marked where Chuck and Sarah were buried side-by-side.

The love the two had for one another was so strong that not even death could separate them. Just as they died in the same manner within moments of each other, they now lie together forever.

Casey and Brianna stopped in front of a double headstone with two hearts carved into the top. Below the two larger hearts, etched into the stone was a much smaller heart. Etched into the left side of the stone was a rose. And etched into the bottom of the stone was a banner. For a moment, Brianna just marveled at it's beauty.

Both Casey and Brianna knelt in the grass in front of the headstone with great emotion filling their whole selves. The trail of tears on Brianna's face didn't get the chance to dry. As she looked upon the gravestone of her parents, tears trickled from her eyes.

Despite his best efforts to prevent it, tears dropped from Casey's eyes as well. Being here reminded him of his friends and everything they ever did for him, including the ultimate sacrifice they made to save his life. Seeing Brianna's emotional state and her tears affected him as well. With all the emotion he was feeling in this moment, Casey knew trying to fight the tears would be to no avail and so he let them come.

While the tears traveled down her cheeks, Brianna stood high on her knees and touched her hand up to the uppermost heart. Her fingers then swept along the heart which bore her father's name. Inside the heart she saw the words, _Loving Husband and Father_. The heart also contained her father's name as well as the dates of his birth and death.

In the heart carved a little lower beside the heart which read _Chuck Bartowski_, Brianna saw the name _Sarah Bartowski_. Like the one for her father, the heart for her mother held the dates of her birth and death, as well as the phrase, _Loving Wife and Mother_.

The little heart contained an etching of intertwined rings and the date Nov. 6, 2010, representing the date of their wedding. As her fingers rested on the heart, Brianna remembered the story Casey told her of how much her parents had loved each other. The representation of that love living on forever on their gravestone affected the little girl greatly and her tear production increased.

Lastly, Brianna laid her hand on the banner at the bottom of the stone as she read, _Great Heroes Who Will Never Be Forgotten._

When her hand dropped from her parent's headstone into her lap, Brianna felt Casey lay his hand on her shoulder. Just a moment later, with heavy emotion filing his voice he spoke to her. "Your parents were the greatest people I've ever known. Not only were they the greatest people I've ever worked with, but they were also the best friends I've ever had. They saved my life, both literally and figuratively. I owe a lot to them and I'm going to make sure that I do everything I can to help you know who they were."

When his words were finished, Brianna turned her tear-soaked face to her Uncle Casey, whose face also shone with tears. For a moment she looked into his eyes with all the sadness she felt about the loss of her parents, but then she did something with surprised Casey, her face split into a smile.

"I want Mommy and Daddy to know who I am too," Brianna announced to Casey before turning back to the gravestone and saying, "Hi Mommy! Hi Daddy! Today, Uncle Casey told me a story all about you, so that I would know you. And now I want to tell you all about me too."

Casey sat with Brianna in front of Chuck and Sarah's gravestone as she happily told them everything about herself. Before leaving, the little girl who had her father's hair and her mother's eyes, said one last thing. "I love you Mommy and Daddy."

When the two arrived back home Casey asked, "Well do you know what you're going to write about your family now?"

With absolute confidence, Brianna answered, "Yep."

"What are you going to write?" Casey asked unable to hide his curiously.

As she ran off to her room, Brianna exclaimed with great enthusiasm, "You'll see!"

* * *

_**A/N: My last story wasn't well liked, but maybe this story will be received better.**_


End file.
